Facebook is to make sweeping changes to its privacy settings in a bid to
answer criticism from users and regulators that the current controls are too
complex.

The social networking site is likely to introduce a 'master control' to simplify privacy choices for users, allowing them to share content among three broad categories, such as everyone, friends of friends or just friends.

Facebook executives briefed Simon Davies, of Privacy International, the UK-based pressure group, over its proposed changes last week, following widespread criticism that its privacy settings are not tight enough.

That led to a string of meetings at senior level within the company, culminating in a privacy 'summit' at Facebook's Palo Alto headquarters, according to the Financial Times.

Facebook hopes the master control would offer a simple alternative to the complicated and frequently confusing settings users currently work with.

In briefings the company suggested it wanted to make it easier for its users to opt out of the instant personalisation feature, which automatically shares users' information with third-party websites.